


Alt Mod

by greenconverses



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Pre-Relationship, Punk!Percy - Freeform, girly!annabeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 19:04:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenconverses/pseuds/greenconverses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Annabeth is only fond of bad boys when it comes to Percy Jackson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alt Mod

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this months ago and just getting around to posting it over here! Inspired by [viria’s](http://viria.tumblr.com) infamous [punk!Percy drawings](http://viria13.deviantart.com/art/If-Percy-was-a-punk-358534511) that have been floating around.

Percy returns to camp the next summer with three new piercings — bright, silver hoops on the cartilage of his right ear. It’s the first thing she notices about him, aside from how he’s suddenly a head taller than her and the fading blue streak of dye in his mohawk, when he thumps his bag on the porch of the Athena cabin and causes her to look up from her book. She can’t help but stare at the earrings.   
  
At this point, she’s used to Percy’s alterations to his appearance. The new earrings are the least drastic thing he’s done to himself in the four years she’s known him. Who could forget the ill-fated lip ring that Clarisse “accidentally” tore out two winters ago or the time he shaved his head because he had nothing better to do that day? But there’s something about the earrings she, well, likes.   
  
More than likes, actually.   
  
Annabeth knows it is beyond cliche for the quiet, bookish girl to secretly harbor a crush on the resident camp bad boy. But there are  _bad boys_  and then there’s  _Percy Jackson_ , and she has a feeling she’d have fallen for him even if he didn’t wear torn up shirts, spikes and combat boots all the time.   
  
He’s not what she expected in the prophecy child, the hero that would save them all, and he’s not what she ever wanted in a best friend. That’s probably why she likes him so much — when he waltzed into her life, he destroyed all her old expectations and gave her new, better ones to yearn for.   
  
“What?” Percy barks, drawing her attention away from the earrings. His green eyes are stormy and he’s scowling at her, as if he’s waiting for her to lecture him for interrupting her like usual. “Got something snappy to say, Chase?”   
  
“No,” she replies, closing her book. She gets up from her chair and approaches him, stopping on the step just above him so she’s still the same height as him. She crosses her arms, holding the book protectively over her chest. “Did you just get here?”   
  
He shrugs carelessly. “I’ve been here for a few hours. Got sidetracked by Clarisse and then I had to talk to Chiron about, y’know, war stuff.”   
  
Annabeth half-expects him to snap at her or snidely ask her if she’s seen her  _boyfriend_  Luke around lately, like he did all last when the subject of the war came up, but he stops at that, watching her with those impenetrable green eyes.   
  
The air between them becomes uncomfortably charged, and she realizes she’s forgotten how angry they’d been at each other last year in the delight of seeing him again and taking in his changes. They hadn’t talked a lot after the labyrinth, after  _Luke_ , and when they did, they had such awful fights. Percy was hot tempered at the best of times, and some of the things he said had been unnecessarily malicious. She wasn’t entirely innocent in matters either, not with the way she sniped at him about Rachel Elizabeth Dare.   
  
By August, he’d gotten so mad at her, he’d put that blue dye in to cover up the gray streak in his hair. That’d stung a lot more than she thought it would, and she kept hers in her own stubborn act of rebellion, refusing to cover up their history with a new color. When they left camp that year, she didn’t bother to say goodbye to him — at that point, it hurt to just be around him, even though hurt worse to stay away.   
  
When they talked during the school year, their conversations hadn’t been without their share of moodiness and short tempers. The distance made things easier after a while, but that blue streak of his had remained incredibly vivid throughout the months, a visual reminder that he was still angry with her.   
  
She prays that the fact that the stripe is faded now is a sign of forgiveness, and not just laziness on his part.  
  
“Yeah, he talked to me this morning too,” she says quietly. “We’re going to have a busy summer.”  
  
“You say that like we ever had a quiet one in the first place. For once, I’d like to go a coupla months without some monster trying to dismember me,” he sighs, sticking his hands in the pockets of his worn out jeans. He scuffs the ground with boot idly, and they both don’t acknowledge how he’d be lucky to get through this summer  _alive_  and without bringing the end of the world with him. “But you and me, we’ll get through it, right?”  
  
She blinks, realizing that Percy is, in fact, extending the olive branch. When he usually apologizes, he does it in a rash, furious way, like he the last thing on Earth he wants to be doing is admit that he was wrong. She understands the feeling; as the daughter of Athena, she hates admitting fault. This isn’t quite an apology, but more of an acknowledgement of his petty behavior from last summer. It’s an oddly mature move from the son of Poseidon, and she appreciates it more than he will ever know.   
  
“We definitely will. I’m glad you’re back,” she says, giving him a small smile. There’s an awkward pause between the two of them as they stare at each other, and Annabeth quickly rushes in to fill it. “And besides, you’d hate having a quiet summer. You’d get bored, and then you’ll do something idiotic like trying to pierce your tongue with a safety pin or give yourself a tattoo.”  
  
He cocks an eyebrow at her defiantly. “How do you know I haven’t already tried that?”   
  
She shoves his shoulder exasperatedly, feeling the tension between them beginning to disappear. “Careful, Jackson, otherwise tetanus is going to get you before any monsters do.”   
  
“Nah, I’m way too tough for that,” he says, sticking his tongue out at her. There’s no tell-tale glint of silver there yet at least, she notes. “You, though... when did you get all girly on me, Annabeth?”  
  
He gives her a very obvious once over, and she glances down, realizing she’d forgotten to change out of her long skirt and sandals from her trip into the city that morning. She’d become fond of dresses and skirts during her time in California, and she’d packed a few along for special days at camp. She was surprised Percy had noticed; he could be incredibly dense about these kinds of things.   
  
“You got a problem with girly?” she says, throwing a hand on her hip.   
  
“Nah,” he replies, reaching out and tucking one of her curls behind her ears. She's so surprised by this movement, she doesn't react right away. His hand lingers, the worn leather of his fingerless gloves touching her cheek, and then he pulls away, winking at her. “Just ain’t used to you being so cute is all.”   
  
Annabeth’s blush spreads from the roots of her hair, and she sputters indignantly. Why is he — how can he — he’s not supposed to pull that trick on her, he knows that! Ugh, he is so annoying!  
  
“I can still kick your butt around the training arena, skirt or no skirt, macho man,” she finally spits out, glaring at him. “I suppose I’ll have to do it as your welcome back to camp present.”   
  
“You think so, huh?”   
  
“I know so. Prepare yourself for a walloping, Jackson.”   
  
Percy runs that hand through his mohawk, making it stick up just a little bit more, and she kind of hates how she finds that habit endearing. “Geez, you can’t even give a guy an hour to relax before bringing out the swords?”  
  
“No,” she says, hopping down to his level. “You’re not the only tough one around here, you know.”  
  
“...you’re not  _really_  going to fight in that skirt, are you?”  
  
“You called me cute, so I  _totally_  am.  _Cute_ , honestly.”   
  
He sighs in exasperation, looking heavenward, as if the gods will help him out of this mess. “You know, some girls would just take the compliment and not beat up a guy for it.”  
  
“Well, in case you’ve forgotten, I’m not most girls,” she says, squaring her shoulders. “I’ll see you in 10 minutes?”  
  
Percy reaches down and picks up his pin covered backpack as she brushes past him. “I’ll be there. And Wise Girl?” She pauses and glances back at him; he’s smiling now, the gentle kind that she rarely ever sees and her heart skips a beat. “I definitely haven’t forgotten.”   
  
There are bad boys, and then there’s Percy Jackson, the punk with a heart of solid gold.   
  
And Annabeth is only slightly in love with one of them.   
  
“By the way,” she calls as he’s walking away. She blushes again, feeling silly. “I like your earrings.” 


End file.
